Daylight Fills My Heart With Sadness
by Lioness's Heart
Summary: While searching for recruits for his new academy, Luke goes looking for Galen Marek. Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: Not mine.  
This was written a few months ago for a wild-themed challenge at gameofcards on LJ - this is obviously somewhat AU with the advent of the new continuity and there are slight spoilers for Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy as well as the Force Unleashed games/comics/novels. This was inspired by and the title comes from Night Air by Jamie Woon.**

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He could feel all the life on Kashyyyk from the cockpit of his X-wing before he even got close to the ground. The world was vibrant and alive and it was a far cry from what Luke expected when he had laid his course in for the Wookie homeworld. Somehow he had expected something less, well, alive after what the Imperials did to them.

His destination was vague at best. All he had was a quickly recorded and heavily encrypted transmission from the captain of a New Republic ship moments before her ship had been destroyed by one of the moffs and a partial set of coordinates that got cut off with the transmission.

Find Galen Marek, she had said.

That was easier said then done. The closest he had found was a Jedi general in the Clone Wars who had been assigned to Kashyyyk before the Empire had exterminated the Order. But he had also found hope – hope that maybe the Jedi master had survived and taught his son something of the teachings of the Order. It fit with the coordinates.

It was not long after he landed that the Wookies had him trudging through the thousand year old forest after the man. They had told him nothing but that Marek kept to himself.

Kashyyyk was unlike anything Luke had ever felt. Yavin 4 and the forest moon of Endor had been buzzing with life, but not like this. He almost slipped off of one of the limbs when a bird startled him as it flew by.

He was surprised when he arrived at what could only be called a clearing. The tree branches came together there with very few holes and the sky was above him rather than more and more trees. It was unexpected after how long he had been wandering through the forest.

What caught his attention, however, was the man sitting in the center of the clearing. His back was to Luke and it seemed like he was deep in meditation.

The man spoke before Luke could take another step. "Walk away, boy," he said.

Instead of listening, Luke mad his way around the edge of the clearing, his eyes on the man in the center. His hair was shorn close to his skull and his clothing appeared to have been mended many times over. Even the lightsaber sitting in front of him seemed battered. The lines of his face were sharp, his lips thin, and his brow was furrowed as he attempted to concentrate on his meditation with Luke present.

"I said walk away." The man's voice was soft, a razor edge to it.

"My name is Luke Skywalker. I'm looking for Galen Marek."

The man opened his eyes to look at Luke, his dark gaze boring into the Jedi Master. "Galen Marek is dead."

Luke hesitated. "Someone in the New Republic told me otherwise."

The man let out a deep sigh, pushing himself up. He called the lightsaber to him and began to walk away. "They are wrong. Galen died many years ago. I'm not the man you are looking for."

"Does the name Juno Eclipse mean anything to you?"

The man stopped and turned, meeting Luke's gaze once more. "Juno sent you?" His brow furrowed again.

Luke nodded slowly. "She told me to find you. The partial coordinates she gave me were for Kashyyyk."

"Partial-?" The realization seemed to hit him all at once. He closed his eyes and took another breath. The scent of ozone filled the air and pain seemed to roll off of the man.

"Who was Juno Eclipse?" The question tumbled out of Luke's mouth before he could stop it.

"She was the woman Galen Marek loved." He took a deep breath. "You know nothing of Galen Marek do you?"

Luke met his gaze and shook his head. "I do not. There are no records of a Galen Marek in Imperial or Republic databanks."

"That's because there are no records of him. He was born on Kashyyyk to a pair of Jedi. When the Purge happened, Vader killed his father and took him as an apprentice. His codename was Starkiller."

"How do you know this?"

"Galen Marek was killed by the Emperor. I'm what's left."

Luke stared at the man for a moment. "You're Marek."

The man shook his head. "No. Just a fragment of him. Just - just Starkiller. Maybe his clone, maybe not." He looked at the lightsaber in his hand as if he were about to do soemthing, then clipped it to his belt. "What do you want?"

"I am trying to rebuild the Jedi Order. You could help rebuild it. Captain Eclipse said to find Galen Marek – that means she believed that was you."

Starkiller shook his head. "No. No one was ever certain that I was the real Starkiller or not – not even Juno or Kota. The memories are too fragmented and even if I was, Vader tortured me. He could have helped you. I'm not him. I only wish I was. I can't help you rebuild your order when I can hardly keep my own sanity. You're asking a former Sith to be a Jedi. You're better off without me."

He turned to go, his shoulders visibly slumping before he leapt for a tree branch below them and disappeared into the forest again, leaving Luke alone with his thoughts.


End file.
